Volume 27 Issue 7 | May 20 - July 12, 2022

Sir is also a composer, and her My Dear Bessie from 2018 leads
a group of four contemporary works, the others being Roxanna
Panufnik’s Hora Bessarabia, Fazil Say’s Cleopatra Op.34 and Laura
Snowdon’s Through the Fog, written for this CD. Ysaÿe’s Sonata No.6,
Op.27 ends an excellent recital.
Sir has a big, strong tone and shows full command in a range of
technical challenges.
This is more of a belated notification of availability
than a review, unfortunately, but due
to a confusing digital link I was only able to
listen to three complete works plus assorted
movements from the Leonidas Kavakos
release of the complete Sonatas & Partitas
on Bach Sei Solo (Sony sonyclassical.com/
releases/releases-details/bach-sei-solo).
Still, the warm tone, traditional – almost
Romantic – approach, rhythmic freedom, judicious ornamentation,
leisurely triple and quadruple stops and resonant recording make it
clear that this is a notable addition to the discography.
After a gap of 13 years the American
guitarist Jason Vieaux has finally released
Bach Vol.2: Works for Violin, completing his
Bach cycle that started with three lute suites
on Vol.1: Works for Lute. The works here
are the Partita No.3 in E Major BWV1006
(which is also Lute Suite No.4), the Sonata
No.3 in C Major BWV1005 and the Sonata
No.1 in G Major BWV1001 (Azica ACD71347
jasonvieaux.com/music).
From the opening bars of the Partita it’s clear that this is going to
be something very special: faultlessly clean technique and a full, rich,
warm tone, all beautifully recorded with a resonant clarity.
“I always try to just play what’s there;” says Vieaux, “the difficult
thing with Bach’s music on guitar is that there’s so much ‘there’
there.” He is fully aware of how interpretation can change and deepen
as the years go by, and says “I hope you will enjoy this latest snapshot
of where I’m at on that particular journey.”
“Enjoy” is an understatement; these are performances that get to
the heart of this extraordinary music on an outstanding CD.
Jason Vieaux is also the sensitive accompanist
for all but three of the 14 outstanding
tracks on Shining Night, the latest CD from
violinist Anne Akiko Meyers; Fabio Bidini
is the pianist on the other three tracks (Avie
AV2455 avie-records.com/releases).
Described as an album that embraces
themes of love, poetry and nature, the disc
spans music from the Baroque era through
to the contemporary scene. Vieaux is the partner on Corelli’s La
Folia, Bach’s Air on G, Paganini’s Cantabile, the achingly lovely Aria
from Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras No.5, Duke Ellington’s In My
Solitude, Piazzolla’s complete four-movement Histoire du Tango, the
Elvis Presley song Can’t Help Falling In Love and Leo Brouwer’s ode to
the California giant sequoia trees Laude al Árbol Gigante.
Bidini accompanies Meyers on the Heifetz arrangement of Ponce’s
beautiful Estrellita and on Dirait-On and Sure On This Shining Night,
the two Morten Lauridsen pieces that close the CD. Meyers is in her
usual superb form throughout a recital that is an absolute delight from
start to finish.
Entre dos almas – Between two souls –
features the music of the Spanish guitarist
and composer Santiago de Murcia (1673-
1739) in performances by Stefano Maiorana
on Baroque guitar (Arcana A484 stefanomaiorana.it).
The two souls are Spanish and Italian, the
latter especially representing the influence
of Arcangelo Corelli in Madrid. The two major works here are both
Murcia’s transcriptions of Corelli: the Sonata in E Minor from Op.5
Nos.5 & 8; and the Sonata in C Major Op.5 No.3. Only the first and last
movements of the latter survive, so Maiorana has supplied his own
transcriptions of the middle three.
The eight individual pieces are an absolute delight, with a lively
opening Fandango and a terrific Tarantelas particular highlights.
Maiorana plays with an effortless technique and with complete
freedom in a beautiful but quite different sound world that is just
bursting with life. Some additions and arrangements are apparently
by Maiorana, but his experience renders them completely
undetectable.
Another quite different sound world – this
time five-string banjo – is to be found on
John Bullard Plays 24 Preludes for Solo
Banjo by Adam Larrabee, Volume One
Books 1 & 2 Nos. I-XII (Bullard Music johnbullard.com/music).
Dedicated to developing and transcribing
classical repertoire for the five-string banjo,
Bullard commissioned Larrabee to write
24 preludes, which the composer says
“follow the long-standing tradition of writing pieces in all the major
and minor keys to showcase an instrument’s versatility.” The major
keys here are C, D, E, F-sharp, A-flat and B-flat; the minor keys are
A, B, C-sharp, E-flat, F and G. Each Prelude has a title – Dialogue, Jig,
Barcarolle, Impromptu, Waltz, etc. – with the A-flat Major Cakewalk
a particular standout.
I don’t know what astonishes me more – that someone could write
these pieces or that someone can play them. They’re simply terrific
– as indeed is Bullard. Volume Two eagerly awaited!
Keeping the “different sound world”
theme going, The Mandolin Seasons –
Vivaldi, Piazzolla features Jacob Reuven on
mandolin and his boyhood friend Omer
Meir Wellber playing accordion and harpsichord
as well as conducting the Sinfonietta
Leipzig, 18 string players drawn from
the Gewandhaus Orchestra (Hyperion
CDA68357 jacobreuven.com).
Each of the Vivaldi Four Seasons is followed by the appropriate
season from Piazzolla’s Las cuatro estaciones porteñas, the four
Buenos Aires pieces written between 1965 and 1970 and heard here in
arrangements based on Leonid Desyatnikov’s orchestral adaptation.
Each of the Piazzolla pieces contains direct quotes from the relevant
Vivaldi concerto, so the pairings here feel perfect. The influence goes
both ways, too – the Vivaldi concertos feature improvised accordion as
well as harpsichord continuo.
Reuven displays dazzling dexterity and technique in beautifully
atmospheric and effective performances, Wellber’s accordion adding a
new and never intrusive dimension to the Vivaldi.
“A magical and fascinating sound world,” say my notes. Indeed it is.
If you prefer your Vivaldi Four Seasons
in more traditional format then it’s hard
to imagine better performers than I
Musici, who made their debut in Rome
in March 1952 and their first landmark
recording of the work in 1955, just
eight years after the 1947 recording by
American violinist Louis Kaufman that
launched the Vivaldi revival. Six more
versions would follow between 1969 and 2012. The group marks
the 70th anniversary of that first concert with the release of a
new recording of Vivaldi, Verdi: Le Quattro Stagioni – The Four
Seasons (Decca 4852630 deccaclassics.com/en/catalogue/products/
the-four-seasons-i-musici-12623).
Marco Fiorini, whose mother was a founding member of I Musici is
46 | May 20 - July 12, 2022 thewholenote.com